Because just like all of us, Hart Hanson and the Bones crew know that there are certain things—like sleeping with your partner’s brother—that you just don’t come back from. That just cannot happen. Because even in fake reality, that’s just going to stir up way too much drama.

Not that we’re afraid of a little drama, mind you.

We’re pro-drama, as long as it’s not too much. So we’re now actually excited about tomorrow’s episode. Because now that we’ve seen the promo and the sneak peeks, we’re confident that Brennan is not going to make an unmentionable choice, but Booth will still be allllll caught up in a delightful tizzy of jealousy.

Another thing.

Those clips this morning showed some marked changes between script and screen.

I got excited when I saw in the sides for Jared Booth that after Booth introduces his brother to Dr. Temperance Brennan, Jared reacts with a hearty “Bones!”

Implying, obviously, that Booth talks about Brennan around his family.

In the sneak peeks, Jared does jump out to greet her with her nickname, but Booth is not happy. In fact, he immediately corrects his brother—“Dr. Brennan.”

In a sense, it’s Don’t call her Bones. That’s Booth’s nickname for her and he is not willing to share the nickname or the girl.

What I didn’t like from the sides was that, upon meeting, Brennan looks at Jared and says that his “facial structure is even more symmetrical and pleasing than Booth’s.” That bothered me, because of the whole baby thing. The argument is that once Brennan wraps her brain around wanting a baby, she’s logically going to want to have said baby with Booth, because he’s obviously got the best physical and emotional qualities necessary for babymaking.

Well, in the sneak peek, you’ll notice that the line’s been changed: “Your facial structure is even more symmetrical than Booth’s.”

It goes from an endorsement of Jared’s superior features to an anthropological observation about his bone structure.

Especially for Brennan, these are two very different sentiments.

We’re putting together this situation wherein Brennan—probably subconsciously—is paying all this attention to Jared because he seems like a viable alternative to He Who She Cannot Have. Even Hart Hanson said this was the case!

So the events of the episode have to prove her logic flawed.

Obviously, we’ve got Angela calling Jared “Booth-Lite.” Brennan refutes this, but I have a feeling Angela’s going to have a “Sweetie, please” and a nice non-anthropological approach to why Seeley Booth is clearly the better choice.

Also, we know that Jared proves to not be the best guy, judging from the scene pages we have of Booth bailing his brother out after a drunk driving snafu.

So this is all leading up, we think, to Brennan having a moment of clarity wherein she realizes that Booth is pretty much as good as it comes. She’s been slowly figuring out the Booth Situation as this season has progressed, and while it’s not quite to the point where she can say anything about it, I think this episode will be an important milestone on the way to Brennan making a decision.

Mae and I have specifically been speculating on the inevitable closing Booth/Brennan scene tomorrow. Remember that this episode constitutes a pretty shit day for Booth—Jared’s got eyes for his girl, he’s getting looked over at work, and it’s his birthday. At the end of the day, it’s going to be time for Brennan to reassure Booth. She has to end this episode telling him that she prefers him to Jared, asymmetrical features and all, because Seeley Booth is a good man. He’s a good father, a good partner, and an honorable man. And, hell yeah, Bones likes him better.

So it doesn’t matter that Booth doesn’t get to go to Hawaii, because he gets to spend the weekend hanging out with Bones. (There’s no way they’ll both go to Hawaii, is there?)

One response to “Things You Don't Come Back From: The Jared Booth Story”

THANK GOD!! This episode just gets better and better and I haven't even seen it yet. I totally agree that the differnce between saying he's more "symmetrical" and he's more "pleasing" is big and I LOVE the fact that Booth-lite knows all about "Bones" but Booth doesn't want to share. It appears that twice Booth tries to keep her from going with Jarhead! with his "No's" once in the lab and in the scene we just saw and in the car scene it looks like she has some sort of realization that he doesn't want her to go. That would be fabtastic! The end B/B heart-to-heart has to go like you are saying with Bren telling him there is only one Booth for her...um, you know, in a purely parternerish way!

Hmmm, Hawaii for 2 would be lovely but I'm sure we won't get quite that much!

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